Mac rushes up the stairs for the second time that night, followed closely by Hawkes. This can not be happening, not again. Mac stops at the threshold to that bedroom, hand ready on his gun, and is almost pushed over by Hawkes.

They both watch the door to that treacherous closet move; a hand stretches out, accompanied by Lindsay's voice, "Don't shoot!" The door opens further and Lindsay steps out of the closet, hands held up in a defensive gesture. "Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you. I was just testing something."

The two men are too relieved to be annoyed.

"What were you testing?" Mac prompts her.

"I was wondering why that guy didn't come out earlier. I mean, he should have heard the officers who were clearing this place. What was he afraid of? Getting caught? By whom? I could hear you talking downstairs, but in there," she points behind her back, "the sounds were muffled. And there are a lot of other noises; I think there are pipes passing through that wall. I couldn't make out any words from your conversation, nor recognize your voices."

"So it could be that he really thought the attacker was still in the house …" Hawkes concludes and Lindsay nods.

Mac looks around. He sees the bloodstain on the floor, a reminder he doesn't need, of where he'd rather be right now. But Stella is being taken care of, and he knows she wants him to solve this case, for Iota and herself.

"Let's see, judging from Stella's position when the shot was fired, she was about to open the closet like this," Mac imitates the action, "then from inside the closet he couldn't possibly have seen her badge, or deducted from her looks that she was not the attacker."

"Another point speaking for self-defense." Hawkes says.

--

Lindsay speaks again after some time, "but nothing here really explains why he waited for such a long time,"

"Well, according to Einstein …"

Hawkes begins, but is interrupted by Lindsay, "… time is relative, come on!" she casts him a slightly chiding look.

"Well, yeah, but not only in the strictly scientific sense, if you'd let me finish. Five minutes on a hot stove feel longer than an hour with a pretty girl."

"I could certainly feel the stove part," Mac agrees, "but this guy, he behaved as if he was with the girl …" Hawkes grins, "Ah, well, you know what I mean, not that girl," Mac finishes.

"Anyway, that still doesn't tell us …" Mac is interrupted by his cell. "Hang on a second; I'll put you on hands-free," Mac tells the caller.

Moments later Flack's voice is heard in the room: "The 'monster in the closet' finally has a name, Stuart Miller. And here it gets tricky, he's actually Iota's father. Turns out he and Marina got divorced about a year ago." The listeners look at each other.

"Well, that could explain what he was doing here," Lindsay says, "but why did he have a gun?"

"He claims he managed to snatch it from one of the attackers," Flack explains, "but he was still afraid they'd come back for him and his girl, so he hid."

"That sounds all very well, but I think we might still have to look at the possibility that Stuart Miller actually did this himself," Mac finally voices something that has been nagging him since he heard that last shot. The others agree.

Before they pack up, Lindsay points Mac to something else she found in the closet. Some of the girl's clothes are torn and sprinkled with gunshot-residue. Hanging just over the hole in the door is a thick winter-coat, with a hole in the same place. All together they worked as a silencer for the gun, most likely muffling the shot to a point where it was only heard in the house.

--

Stella is just brought from the anesthetic recovery room when Mac arrives at the hospital. She's still dazed from the anesthetics and hardly aware of his presence. He takes her hand, it's cold, he rubs it gently, watches her eyelids flutter and her eyes move like in a dream when they are closed. He takes her other hand too, and holds them both in his hands and close to his chest to warm them.

She looks at him, begins to focus. She moves her lips, he moistens them with a cloth lying ready on the bedside table, gives her a sip of water.

"Hey," he has her hand in his again, "how do you feel?"

"All padded up and safe," she whispers hoarsely, "what about you – and Iota?"

Mac smiles, "I'm fine, and Iota seems to be holding up really well, she is spending the night in the childcare center." Stella frowns at this. "We have found some relatives, but they are all out of town," he says before she can ask, choosing not to tell her about Stuart Miller just yet.

Mac doesn't tell Stella much about anything that happened before, seeing that she is still very exhausted, and he certainly doesn't want her to speak. They spend some time in silence, exchanging little smiles and talking with their eyes. He does tell her about his impression of Iota; he imagines Stella was like that when she was a girl, already so strong.

Her eyelids are drooping again. The anesthetics are slow to wear off and it's late, Mac feels tired, too.

"Go on, you need to sleep, I'll be okay," Stella whispers, "and don't even think about staying here, get into your comfortable bed."

He smiles at this and gets up, kissing her fingers before he lets go of her hand. She's asleep before he reaches the door, where he turns around to look at her again. He sneaks back into the chair beside her bed.

Ah, so much dialogue, but I couldn't help it – and believe me, I tried! Anyway, big thanks to those who have already reviewed, and to all the others: feel free to join any time!